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January 11, 2002 | Issue 389

FRONT PAGE

Bush wants more tax cuts for the richCorporate America's front manUnemployment is on the rise and is expected to climb even higher. What's George W. Bush's solution? An "economic security" plan. But the only people who would benefit are plenty secure already.

REBELLION IN ARGENTINA

Argentinians send message of resistanceRebelling against free-market miseryThe uprising in Argentina last month has sent a powerful message to bankers and politicians the world over: Mass struggle can stop the free-market policies pushed by the International Monetary Fund.

James Petras on the Argentinazo:"You have to take action from below"Latin America expert James Petras, who has worked for the past two years with the unemployed movement in Argentina, talks to Socialist Worker about the dynamics of the rebellion that brought down two governments in a week's time last month--and what the future holds.

Argentina's rich tradition of working-class struggleOne hundred years ago, Argentina was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, supplying huge quantities of meat and grain to Europe and the U.S. But Argentina is also rich in another way--in its tradition of working-class struggle.

How IMF policies led to disasterGlobal justice activists have long been attacked for arguing that the policies of the International Monetary Fund lead to poverty and suffering around the world. But with the December collapse of the de la Rúa government, whatever credibility the IMF had left has been destroyed.

After a decade of devastation...Is Iraq the next target in Bush's war?Immediately after the September 11 attacks, Washington sounded the charge against Iraq. "Living with [Saddam Hussein] is the most dangerous course to take," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told reporters. "Give war a chance."

Personal bankruptcies at new highs as recession hitsDrowning in debtWith layoffs mounting, the unfolding economic recession is threatening the livelihoods of millions of working people. Those saddled with debt are especially vulnerable to the shock of sudden unemployment--with one missed payment beginning a spiral toward financial ruin.

WHAT WE THINK

Death toll climbs in Afghanistan as U.S. looks for new targetsStop Bush's war machineIraq, Yemen, Somalia. Each has been floated as the potential next target of George W. Bush's "war against terrorism." But among the leading cheerleaders for war, it doesn't even matter which country the U.S. picks--as long as the bombs keep dropping.

Israel's new excuse for a crackdownIsraeli officials immediately went on the offensive last week after Israel seized a ship that it claimed was smuggling weapons to the Palestinian Authority. They used this "discovery" to argue that their brutal war on Palestinians has been justified all along.

Behind the war threat in South AsiaWith 1 million Indian troops dug in along the border with Pakistan, India's right-wing government is following a script written in Washington, D.C.

For-profit takeover of Philadelphia schoolsSelling schools to the highest bidderPhiladelphia's public schools are being taken over by one of the most notorious for-profit education companies in the country.

Eight years of attacks on working peopleGood riddance to GhoulianiRudolph Giuliani may have come off as a human being after the September 11 tragedy, but his record as mayor tells a different story. He helped to wreck the lives of thousands of people with eight years of racist, anti-labor, anti-poor policies and his unwavering support for New York's murderers in blue.

Death row prisoner freed after 18 years"They can give me a billion dollars, and they can't pay for what they did to me," Juan Melendez told reporters after he was released last week from Florida's death row, becoming the 99th death row prisoner freed in the U.S. since 1973.

Washington's help for BoeingAircraft giant Boeing is having financial problems. But it may get by--with tens of billions of dollars in help from its pals in Washington.

THE MEANING OF MARXISM"Something" must be done?After skewering Washington for bombing Afghanistan, cartoonist Ted Rall wrote in an AlterNet column, "No nation is worthy of the name unless it's willing to react to the murder of its citizens with force." The statement assumes two things: that the U.S. government's real goal in this war is to end terrorism, and that it has the moral authority to fight a "war against terror."

INSIDE THE SYSTEMNo free speech at the libraryA library mural in Memphis, Tenn., is provoking heated debate among some people who haven't figured out that the Cold War is over. Several local politicians are up in arms over the fact that the mural outside the new Memphis Central Library features the words, "Workers of the world, unite."

Police use racial profiling at "ground zero"Arrogance of the NYPDDespite politicians' talk of "unity and compassion" in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster, the New York Police Department hasn't skipped a beat in its campaign of racial profiling and abuse of power.

Falsely accused of terrorismI watched the news last night and saw a story that really disgusted me. It happened at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, where a former Chicago Board of Education member named Anna Mustafa was preparing to board a plane to Tel Aviv to attend her father's funeral.

Hospital bosses put profits before patientsOregon nurses fight for quality careThe 1,500-member Oregon Nurses Association strike at Oregon Health and Science University continues into its fourth week without progress at the negotiating table.

Protest UAW headquarters to defend Accuride workers January 14"If you're for solidarity, stand up"United Auto Workers activists are planning to protest next week against the International's move to cut off strike benefits to locked-out Accuride workers in Henderson, Ky. Billy Robinson, former president of locked-out Local 2036, writes about the stakes for labor in this struggle.

Labor in briefCook and DuPage County transportation workers; Harvard University janitors; University of Cincinnati professors

New York City Bloomberg protestAbout 150 people gathered to protest on the second day of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration--to "make sure that Mayor Giuliani's reign of terror does not continue in the new administration," Tina, from the Prison Moratorium Project, told the crowd.

A hip-hop voice of resistanceWriter, actor and activist Danny Hoch is best-known for his one-man stage play "Some People," which won an Obie award in 1995 and was later distributed widely on HBO. Hoch recently turned his latest play, "Jails, Hospitals and Hip-Hop," into a film.